Store clerk uses box cutter to run off armed robbers

Just before 10 p.m. Thursday, two men walked into the Forest Hills Food Mart, 2403 Market St., with shirts over their heads.

By F.T. NortonFran.Norton@StarNewsOnline.com

An armed robber and his partner got more than they bargained for Thursday when a box cutter-wielding gas station attendant with a history of fighting back thwarted their attempt at a heist. Mark Headstrong, who in 2011 shot a robber after the two held each other at gunpoint during a robbery on Wrightsville Avenue, was again confronted by an armed robber. Headstrong said he was working at the Forest Hills Food Mart, 2403 Market St., just after 9 p.m. Thursday when two men, their faces covered by shirts, walked in and demanded money.“He put the gun in my face and said, ‘This is a robbery, guy. Pass us the money,'” Headstrong, 49, recounted Friday. As the accomplice made his way around the counter, Headstrong opened the cash register and told the armed man to take the cash, he said. The gunman told Headstrong to give it to him. “That was too much to request,” he said. Headstrong said he grabbed a box cutter he had nearby, and with his left hand grabbed the gunman's wrist and held the weapon down, then slashed wildly with the box cutter at the accomplice. “I don't know what I was doing,” he said. He said the accomplice held his arms up to defend his face, but never fought back, as Headstrong forced the man out from behind the counter. The two would-be robbers then fled the store.“Either they were going to eat me, or I was going to eat them,” Headstrong said. “I know I have to protect my life.”Wilmington police learned of the robbery when a patrol sergeant stopped a vehicle leaving the parking lot of the market in a reckless manner, Cpl. Kevin Smith said. The driver, a store employee, told the sergeant the market had been robbed and he was attempting to follow the getaway vehicle – a green Volkswagen sedan – as it traveled north on Kenwood Avenue and then east on Chestnut Street, Smith said. The robbers were still at large Friday afternoon, Smith said. Headstrong said this is the fourth time he has been robbed. After the second robbery, the man who calls himself peaceful, said he got a gun. By the time the third robbery happened in December 2011, the smiling clerk was armed. In that instance, the two got into a showdown, with each training their weapon on the other. “I told him, ‘Drop it,' but he didn't, so then I shot into the floor, but it hit his leg,” Headstrong recalled. He said when the robber still hadn't put his weapon down, Headstrong shot him in the hand. The robber surrendered and sat on the floor. He was arrested when police arrived.After that instance, Headstrong took a weapons class and there, he said, he learned to shoot to kill. “If I had my gun I would shoot them to death, and this is not a man who wants to kill people,” Headstrong said. “That's what these (robbers) need to understand – it could be the end of their life.” The robbers are described as black men, ages 22 to 28. Both were from 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-9 tall, and both weighed from 150 to 160 pounds.Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call the Wilmington Police Department at 343-3600. Information also may be submitted anonymously through Text-A-Tip. Enter Tip 708 and the information; send to CRIMES (274637).